The Red List
by Marcus Gaudry
Summary: A '7 Pillars' story. The Hunt for Khemintiri is on! Ajax is pulled from his duties in order to assist a specialist who has come to Los Angeles to track and either capture of kill this legendary criminal. Based on continuity established in VTMB 10 years Later.
1. Chapter 1

The Red List

Chapter 1

Okay, so here's the rundown of Elysium dirt so far; at least in a thumbnail sketch:

1\. Camarilla Economics are going strong since Prince Therese took Praxis. Lots of boons are getting traded back and forth among the Kindred on a nightly basis. My crew has been resourceful enough to even get the lowdown on what they are getting traded for. I have compiled a ledger that I'm willing to bet matches damn close to the Harpy's and passed that off to Bertram, Imalia, and Mitnick. Bertram is very pleased. He figures this gives us lots to work with

2\. Fenris has been spending most of her nights following Damsel. I have to admit she's been pretty smart about it; the Gangrel has been alternating her reasons between a growing friendship and talking business with the Sheriff; insisting that the affairs of Sheriff and Scourge ought to be coordinated to avoid stepping on each other's toes. In short, she's monitoring Damsel in plain sight in order to appease Therese's paranoia.

3\. The Court officers are finding it more difficult to keep the Prince in check than they imagined; in a city as big as LA, plenty of distractions come up. Most of it has been petty shit, but it's still been enough to keep the Court and the Council busy.

4\. Tyler and Xavier seem to be hanging out a lot. I suppose it makes sense, since their respective Clubs are networked together along with Jeanette and Therese's. Could be they're just dealing with all that, but then why is it that the Prince is so rarely at their table? In fact, even when she is, she only ever sits with them as Jeanette; not that either X or Tye are aware they're the same person...well...kind of.

5\. The only thing of interest that Knox has come up with on his dayshift is the number of suit and tie guys that seem to be around the various Elysium locations lately. He thinks they're connected to the agency that's been setting up shop in the former LaCroix building.

Of course, now Bertram has pulled me off the nightshift of Elysium watch and has Knox take in reports from both shifts. I'll have to admit that Knox Harrington really is proving to be way more competent than I thought.

Old Bert gave me a whole new assignment tonight. He called me to meet with him in the Warrens under the Hollywood Cemetery, where he introduced me to some new kid from God knew where. He was Nosferatu; there was no doubt about that. His skin had gone completely dry and yellowed –it had a tendency to flake off like dandruff, his mouth was puckered up into a permanent sour-puss expression, and there were these empty sockets with little pinpricks of light where his eyes should have been. He had what would have been a jarhead haircut if his scalp wasn't peeling. Beneath his ratty trench coat, hooded sweatshirt, jeans and combat boots, the kid looked like he was, once upon a time, quite athletic before he ravaged himself with heroin. Besides the fact he was obsessively filing his left thumbnail, the first thing I noticed about him was the fact he was so young he was practically still warm. My first hunch was that this new Nos wandered into LA and now Bert was going to put him under my accounting. That was not something I needed right now.

"It's about time you got here," Bert said when I showed up in what used to be Gary's meeting room. Before I could say anything he went on. "Ajax, meet Adam Walker, Adam, this is Ajax. He's not much older than you, so I'm thinking you two will be able to identify with each other."

The kid put his nail file away and extended his hand. As I took it I noted how strangely elegant his hands appeared, and how weirdly smooth they were; they had no ridges on them at all.

"Pleased to meet you, Ajax." He said. His voice was so deep he had to have a sac like a pair of bowling balls between his legs. "I look forward to working with you on this critical matter."

"Likewise" I replied. "What's this about again?"

"You know about the Red List." Bert said. I nodded. "Adam here managed to capture and destroy one of the Kindred on that list back in Winnipeg, and as result a Camarilla Justicar appointed him as an Alastor. As an Alastor, all he really does is track down other members of the Red List."

"I recently tracked one to Vancouver, and that thread led me first to San Francisco, then to here." Walker confirmed.

I had a feeling I knew which one, considering the relatively recent Setite debacle we had which eventually led to the resurrection of the Tower in LA, but I asked anyway.

"An especially elusive Follower of Set named Khemintiri" Walker answered, just as I thought. "Her crimes against the Tower are virtually unspeakable. Even the Sabbat wants her dead, and her own Clan has her marked as a traitor. If legend has it right, she is a child of Set himself."

"I know who she is," I said back. "But she ain't here. We just recently turned an entire Coven of Setites into ash. It turned out the whole reason they even set up here in LA was to lay down a trap for her; they raised all kinds of hell in the process, but as far as anyone knows she never showed up. My bet is she knew it was a trap all along." That was, to my judgement, the most likely thing. There was no way anyone could elude two sects and their own Clan for as long as she had by taking needless risks like showing up in a place where those who were hunting her were waiting for her to appear.

"I'll be the one who determines that." Walker insisted. "I have information and evidence that says she either was here recently, or might even be here now. I have studied her methodology and will know what to look for."

"This is why I called you in, Ajax." Bertram interjected. "You're going to be Adam's tour guide of Los Angeles, and you're going to assist his investigation any way you can. Because of his position and occupation, the formalities of prestation need not be worried about; you can get straight to work."

"That is true, Bertram," Walker confirmed, "but all the same I would prefer if I met with our Primogen, the Sheriff, Prince, and Scourge if you have one. It's best if they know of my presence and my business so they know to stay out of my way unless I enlist them for their aid."

The kid was a real dyed in the wool Cammie. That was for sure. How'd that happen to one so young? I guess it doesn't really matter. On a personal note, though; his clear loyalties to the Ivory Tower and his skyrocket promotion said something for the organization.

"No problem" I said. "I can introduce you; in fact, I have a pretty good idea where all four of them are right now."


	2. Chapter 2

As it turned out, this Walker kid had his own idea; or rather some preconceived idea based on proper protocol in regards to whom he wanted to meet first. He insisted that I introduce him to our Primogen, who would in turn present me to the appropriate officers. What surprised me a little was that he wasn't the least bit phased that Bertram wasn't Primogen; apparently it's fairly commonplace for Camarilla Elders to have someone else represent the Clans, and they themselves sort of run the show behind the scenes. I guess it made sense, in a Cammie sort of way.

Getting to Imalia wasn't a problem; I already knew she wasn't in our Downtown haven, and she wasn't exactly a social butterfly, that meant she'd probably be in her Warren quarters. I led Walker through the Warrens to her door, the one lined with Christmas lights. I knocked three times on the door.

"What the hell do you want?" She shouted raspy voiced from the other side. Before Walker could comment I waved her apparent hostility off. She's pretty much always like that. Then I opened the door and stepped in.

"Oh, it's you." She said, calming down. "Sorry about that. What can I do for you, babe?"

"We got a new kid in the Warren." I said, stepping aside to let Walker in. "He wanted to meet you. Primogen Imalia, meet Adam Walker."

Imalia looked him over and scoffed.

"So what brings you to LA?" she asked.

I had to hand it to the kid; he didn't seem the least bit phased by Imalia's demeanor. He stepped forward, his oddly elegant hand extended. "Good evening Primogen," he said. "I am here on official Camarilla business."

"Well, good for you," she shot back, disregarding his hand. "Care to be a little more specific, newbie?"

Still unphased, the Walker kid lowered his hand. "Khemintiri has been tracked to this city, and I'm going to track her and take her down; one way or the other."

Imalia blanched at that, and then laughed derisively. "You've got more balls than brains, then, newbie." She commented. "Even if she were here, what makes you think you have a chance at catching her? She's been on the run longer than most of us have been alive." The kid didn't know Imalia like I did, so he might have missed it, but I didn't. She was terrified at the notion that that Setite bitch might be here.

"She's here alright" Walker insisted, "or at least she was. Whichever the case, I want to seek acknowledgement of your Prince for the duration of my investigation; and I wish to speak to your Sherriff and Scourge in order coordinate our activities." He glanced over his soldier at me. "You are welcome to join the hunt as an extension of my reach, of course."

"Well, aren't you just the perfect little Cammie soldier-boy?" Imalia grumbled. "Fine; I'll set up a meet with the Queen Bitch. I should advise you that chances are good the closest you'll get to her Lunatic Highness is her power-tripping candy-ass Seneschal Hastings, though."

Walker shot his attention at Imalia, staring at her intently.

"Did you say Hastings?" He asked sharply. "As in, of the Hastings line of Clan Ventrue?"

"Yeah, that's right" Imalia concurred. "Why is that a big deal; other than the fact that the Hastings line basically owns pretty much the whole West Coast? Are you in bed with them, too? Would you rather deal with him?"

"No" Walker replied, a hint of panic in his voice. "In fact the opposite is true for now. I'd want to keep him as far out of the loop as possible."

Imalia looked n my direction. "Maybe you can learn something from this kid, babe." She said to me. "At least he has the sense to not trust those bastards." She spoke to Walker; "There might be hope for you yet." Speaking to me again; "You're supposed to watch Elysium activities. Where is Therese?"

"Tonight she's at the Nocturne." I answered. "She's overseeing preparations for some kind of charity benefit; Public Relations for the Club Partners."

"I'm surprised it's not Jeanette dealing with that."

"Her Highness wanted to make sure it was all right and proper." I explained.

She scoffed again, grumbling about how that just figures and taking some consolation that at least she wouldn't have to go into either the whorehouse VV calls a bar or the aptly named Asylum.

"Follow me, both of you." She ordered. We both stepped aside and let our Primogen lead the way through the Warrens, through the sewer systems into the Downtown core and to where the Clan is officially supposed to enter the Nocturne theatre.


	3. Chapter 3

En route, Walker made it clear that he wanted to keep his purpose for being in LA as low profile as can be; if it never left the Warrens, that would be perfect, he said. Both Imalia and I grasped his reasoning here right away. With a criminal like Khemintiri, the last thing you want is to be made; she was the reason the Red List was invented in the first place, and if there was ever going to be a chance to catch her it would have to be done undercover. That's the kind of shit we Nosferatu are good at; that's probably why they sent this guy.

Once there, we got intercepted by none other than Vandal Carver, Therese's go-to guy. I thought we were supposed to be the creepy ones; this guy gives _me_ the willies.

"Well," he said, "I'm sorry, but the Queen Bitch is very busy at the moment and she left specific instructions not to be interrupted. She would be especially offended if her benefit was spoiled by an infestation of Sewer Rats, she said. You'll just have to go through that fancy-pants secretary of hers."

Imalia took a step forward. "Listen, you little pipsqueak wannabe." She hissed at him. "This guy over here is a big time auditor sent by an even bigger time Justicar. If you want him to go back to his superiors saying that her highness wouldn't even see him, I'm sure that's fine by him. What you have to think about is what your Mistress will do to you when she finds out the grief she gets for it is all because you tried to cockblock him." She paused, letting that concept sink in. "At the end of the night, it's all on you, you little limpdick jack off creep."

Vandal stammered. "I'll... I'll see if she's willing to take a moment out of her schedule for you." He finally blurted out, scampering away.

That's what I love about my Imalia; she really knows how to spread the BS when she needs to. Most of the Clan might see her as a Cleopatra; and that Gary was only trying to punish her when he embraced her, but I think he knew what he was doing. My bet is that Bertram figures the same and that's why he put her forward to be Primogen. Walker was hard to read, especially since he basically had no eyes, but I got the sense he was bright enough to work Imalia's claim about him into his cover. Shortly after, Vandal came back.

"The Queen... Her Highness will indulge your request in the manager's office away from the set-up crew." He announced, his voice betraying his state of terror. "Follow me, please." Vandal led us through some backstage halls and rooms, out of site from the public areas and into an office room. Once we were there, the ghoul left promptly and without so much as a word.

"So you got to level with me." I said to Walker. "Why do you want to avoid meeting Cameron Hastings? Before you go off and pull rank on me; being a rising star and overnight sensation big shot that you are, I ask so I can be as much of a help to you as I can."

Walker looked at me like he was sizing me up or trying to determine if I was being straight with him. Finally he nodded slightly. "One of Khemintiri's favorite moves is to impersonate other Kindred – flawlessly – and get in close with the Court so she can manipulate it." He explained. "Typically she will position herself near a prominent Ventrue. Here on the West Coast of America that usually means someone in the Hastings line. I want to observe your Seneschal surreptitiously and take note of those closest to him without his noticing."

That made sense. He was trying to narrow down his suspect pool.

"In that case," Imalia said, "we might as well put Therese herself on the suspect list."

As unlikely as that seemed to me, it was a disturbing thought that our Prince might be Public Enemy #1 in disguise.

"I seriously doubt that, hon." I replied. "For one thing, Her Highness has not changed her behaviour patterns in any remarkable way. I know that doesn't mean a lot since the snake bitch mimics her marks perfectly and Therese is a Malkavian anyway, but there is one other factor to think about; we have to remember Jeanette."

"Why is that important?" Walker asked. "Who is Jeanette to your Prince?"

"To the Prince, she's her identical twin sister." I answered. "But I recently discovered that Jeanette is really an alternate personality of Therese. As far as I know, Therese is unaware of this and believes her own delusion. Jeanette apparently is aware they share the same body. Unless Khemintiri somehow came into that knowledge, we'd pick up that Jeanette was mysteriously gone or something."

"Has this alternate been seen recently?"

"She was at the last gathering." Imalia replied. "That bullshit party thrown for Cammie's little girlfriend."

Walker raised one of his featureless hands to silence us as he listened intently to the hall outside the office. "Someone is coming." He said. "I would rather the Prince not know why I am here; the tighter the circle, it becomes less likely that the target will know how close we are. We want to capture her, not spook her so she has a chance to flee."

The office door opened and the three of us stood to greet Therese as the Prince darkened the doorway in her custom fitted DeVries power suit. She wrinkled her nose contemptuously as she stepped into the room; her disdain for our Clan was no secret.

"Your highness," Imalia greeted. "May I present to you Mr. Adam Walker of Clan Nosferatu?"

Barely suppressing a grimace of disgust, Therese regarded Walker briefly before waving him forward. Walker stepped forward and promptly dropped to one knee.

"Well, you seem to know how to conduct yourself in the presence of you betters," she said with some resignation. "That's a start. Vandal tells me you have been sent by the Inner Circle for some sort of audit."

"That is correct, Highness." Walker confirmed. "Yours is a new Domain of the Ivory Tower, and the Inner Circle wants an assessment to ensure the stability of this new addition to our society."

"That seems reasonable." Therese remarked. "How long will this audit take?"

"As long as it takes, Highness" Walker said.

Therese contemplated this a moment, and then asked if there was any other assets he could offer in service to her Domain in the meantime.

At this point, my phone notified me of an incoming text. I glanced at it and saw a message from Mitnick updating me on Knox's reports; specifically in regards to Fenris, Tyler, and Marko, apparently.

"As a matter of fact, Highness, I do." Walker responded. "I am something of a specialist when it comes to investigation, seizure, and the capture of criminals and those who would seek harm to the Tower."

"Excellent" the Prince exclaimed. "I'm certain both my Sheriff and my Hound will be happy to make your acquaintance. As a matter of fact, I can contact my Hound and have he come meet you here and now." She reached into her jacket for her phone.

"If I may, Highness" I interjected. "I just got a message from Mitnick; our eyes have zeroed her location. She and Tyler are currently in the process of sealing a significant Masquerade breach; perhaps I should escort Adam to her location. Maybe we can be of assistance there."

"What is this location?" She inquired. "What is the nature of the breach?"

"They are at the Hollywood Cemetery, and the breach involves the disposal of a body. Apparently some mobster attacked Tyler."

Therese removed her spectacles and massaged the bridge of her nose with her thumb and middle finger. In that moment, I was pretty damn sure we were seeing a 'tell' that Therese and Jeanette were about to switch. I can only really speak for myself; but I'm almost positive Imalia and Adam were thinking the same thing right up until the Prince perched her specs back over her eyes.

"Yes, Ajax, that should be fine." She agreed. "It would be a good idea to take every measure available to ensure this mess is cleaned up. Besides, this is an opportunity for our new addition to prove his worth." After a pregnant silence, she bid us leave the way we came.

As I led Adam through the Warrens to the graveyard, he asked if Tyler was the Sheriff. I told him that was not the case at all; that Tyler DeFaulte was the Primogen of the Brujah Clan. I told him that the Sheriff was also a Brujah known as Damsel.

"I've heard of her," Adam commented. "I heard she was a real fire brand Anarch. How'd she get to be Sheriff?"

"That's a long story and not all that important." I replied. "What is important that you know is that I didn't tell her highness everything; Mitnick also messaged me that the Sheriff is currently MIA. She was seen being pulled into a Hummer shortly after a nearby Nightclub was shot up and bombed."

"Why would you keep this from your Prince?"

"Because there's a chance this might be connected to your hunt." I lied. The real reason was because Bertram thought there might be huge boon in this if we can facilitate her extraction. Adam scrutinized me a moment right before we arrived at the Warren entrance through the Mausoleum.

"We'll see." He said quietly. "We'll see."


	4. Chapter 4

One thing I gotta tell you right now; Stakeouts are boring as all hell and get out. Fenris left Adam and me high and dry while she pretty much hid in plain sight right in front of those Carnies. A couple of them even tossed her a couple of corn dogs – at least that's what Adam said they were, I couldn't tell from the distance we were at – which she sniffed at, tentatively took and carried off somewhere. Then we both lost sight of her completely.

Anyway, there we were, watching this Ravnos oversee the finishing touches on his big little travelling scam on the beach. Nothing of interest was going on; it all looked like the same old shit and shine when it comes to these rinky-dink travelling Carnivals. Finally I tried to spark up conversation.

"So Adam, what's your story anyway?" I asked.

"Why do you want to know?"

"I don't know," I answered. "I just figured we might as well get acquainted while we sit here with our thumbs up our asses. So seriously; how'd you manage to land such a sweet gig in the Ivory Tower so fast?"

"I'm good at what I do." He replied. "I always have been, even before I was turned."

"Really" I commented. I was genuinely interested now. "What did you do before?"

"I hunted psychos." He said. "What I do now is really not so different; certainly not if the subject has retained any of their humanity."

"You mean you were a _detective?_ As in, you were a _cop?_ "

Walker guffawed. "Not precisely; I was a Federal Agent with the FBI. You remember Yosemite Sam?"

I nodded. That was the name the press gave some nutcase who went around Yosemite Park shooting people, taking off their heads, shrinking them, and them leaving them in other parts of the park. He'd leave the previous head within twenty yards of the next kill. He did it three or four times before the Feds got involved; got two more before they finally caught him. Then I caught on. The Fed who caught him; his name made the papers, too. It was Special Agent Adam Walker.

"That was you who caught that freak?" I asked rhetorically. "That was only...what...four years ago! How long have you been one of us, anyway?"

"It was one full year ago last month." He replied. "I was on a case at the time. The evidence and victimology developed a profile which led to a suspect, and that got me too close to the truth, it would seem. I got sidelined by the Nosferatu who is now my Sire, and the actual perp slaughtered my family. I faked a nervous breakdown, retired from the Bureau, and proceeded to hunt from within the Kindred. I caught the fucker, and it turned out he was a Red Lister. This turned out to be my Sires' intent all along. He's a Servire, who put me before his Archon, then the Justicar, who presented the case to the Inner Circle; now, since I took out a Red Lister, I'm an Alastor. Does that answer your questions?"

It did. I nodded without another word. It was pretty clear that I hit a nerve. From the sound of things, one of the Clan basically bred him for job, maybe from the time he was still crapping his diapers. I heard that this kind of thing happened, but I didn't believe it. I do now.

"Good," he said. "Never mind that you're full of shit when you claim you think your missing Sherriff might be related to my hunt for Khemintiri, I don't care about that. Nor do I particularly mind getting roped into this stakeout; it serves to grant me a place in this city that will make my activities seem normal. What I'm interested in is your Seneschal. He's of the Hastings line if I remember, right?"

"Yeah..." I answered uncertainly. The thing was I wasn't sure I wanted to fuck with a line of Ventrue that pretty much owned the West Coast. Not only that, but even though most people think Cameron is kind of a dick...okay, he is kind of a dick, but I do consider him a friend. Or, at least as much of friend as any other Kindred can be a friend. Just because he knows what he wants, knows what to do to get it and is willing and able to do it isn't a reason to hate on the guy.

"If you were to look at the success the Hastings Line has had, especially here on the West Coast, you would see it is always on the heels of some sort of Setite activity. Look closer still, and you'd find that our subject was in some way involved; sometimes directly, sometimes indirectly. You'd also see that every single one of the Hastings Cities is ripe with social decay. I believe she's likely infiltrated your Seneschal's sphere of influence in order corrupt the line and subsequently the Ventrue Clan even more than she already has."

"Okay..." I was still unsure I liked where this was going. "So what do you need?"

"I need to know who he's close with." Adam replied. "Allies, associates, friends, who he confides in, I need all of that. Other than the Nosferatu, I mean. I can guess that through him, the Clans Nosferatu and Ventrue are in good relations right now. That is typical Hastings strategy."

What the hell, I figured. What he was saying was making sense. It didn't take a genius detective to figure out where he was going with this; he wanted to know who Khemintiri was most likely hiding amongst within those Cameron was closest to. He'd probably be looking at all of us in the Warren; which sucked ass but it had to be done.

"Well, there's Mercurio. He's a ghoul – a leftover from the LaCroix Praxis that Cameron took on. There's his Clan of course. There's Harpy Strauss and Primogen Tabetha of Clan Tremere, but they mostly just tolerate him because they view him as useful. Then there's Kaila. She's a Whoreador dancer over at Vesuvius. The two of them are bumping uglies; that gold-digging tramp's got him wrapped around her little finger. I will say this, about her, though; either she's got the Beast something nasty, or she's so old she makes Bertram look like a neonate."

That got his attention. His head snapped – I actually heard something crack in his neck – when he turned to look at me. "How long have they been together?" He asked.

"Roughly six months" I replied. "She showed up right in the middle of..." _the Setite fiasco._ I was about to say. Could that be how she got by undetected? Was she playing at being some random rose that romanced Cammie? According to what Adam just told me, it fit.

"We'll have to watch her." Adam said. "Still, she may have taken one of your numbers out and be impersonating them. She does this often and does without flaw, legend says. All the same, I have to know; have any of his associates had any sort of behavioral change recently?"

I could only think of one. "Tabetha has seemed distracted lately." I answered. "Then again, my network of Elysium agents says that has to do with some kind of in-Clan disturbance. Apparently Marko the Malkavian Primogen knows a little bit about that."

I'll tell you right now. I felt like crap spilling all this; and just because I was giving up free information. That part was nothing; we Nos share all this with each other anyway. I felt like crap because I felt like I was ratting out my friends to the cops. I wish he never told me what he did before he got turned. I wish I never asked.

"Thank you, Ajax." He said in a weirdly gracious manner. "We'll still have to check the others, but this Kaila and Tabetha sound like our prime candidates. I'll have to talk to this Marko as well." He stopped talking cold in his tracks and glanced out towards the ocean. I followed his gaze and could see what he could see; a mist rolling in from the ocean and all about the Carnie camp. That was probably Fenris trying to get a better lay of the territory. Judging by how low the moon was getting, the night was almost spent, and the Ravnos did not seem to be making any move to locate the Prince, let alone seek her acknowledgement. I was honestly stunned at how fast the night went by.

"It looks like we're going to be doing some introduction work tomorrow." I said, changing the subject. "Our guest doesn't seem to be at all interested in announcing himself. As for us, we best get underground quickly; when the moon gets that low over the sea, the sun comes up over the desert a lot faster than you might think."


	5. Chapter 5

Shortly after sundown, we fed to make sure we were both fully satiated and then I led Adam to a small outcropping of rock I knew would give us a perfect view of the Ravnos carnival; it was about a hundred yards east and maybe a dozen yards north of where the master parked his trailer. We could see everything from there; even where Fenris morphed into a wolf and where Mike and a couple of other Gangrels were going into mist form. My rats also had the place well cased. Adam was concerned that the Ravnos, no strangers to the use of Animalism, might be able to turn them against us, but I wasn't too worried; most of the rats I brought along for the party had my blood in them, and I figured blood beats out any skill he might have. We didn't see Imalia, but I knew she was there. Before obfuscating, Adam removed his overcoat and for the first time I noticed the guy had wings! Well, I guess they were more like leathery webbing under his arms, but I could just imagine they made it possible for him to fly...or glide through the air, anyway.

Eventually, the festivities died down, and when the last of the Kine were finally gone, Alexis stepped out of his trailer once his servant boy made sure it was all clear. That was when we saw Fenris make her move. I came out obfuscate to rush in, too, but Adam grabbed my shoulder and stopped me.

"This isn't how it looks." He cautioned. "Look again" he pointed at the trailer and there was Alexis climbing out of the fire hatch on the roof of his trailer just as Fenris made her leap into what was like some kind of hologram of her intended target. It was a bait and switch; they knew we were here. It didn't take a genius detective to know this was about to get ugly in a hurry.

"I'll be damned." I muttered. Fenris took the bait. I almost did, too. Adam didn't, and neither did my pets; they were scurrying off in the direction that Alexis was now fleeing. Before I could say anything more, Adam was leaping off the outcropping and gliding on his wing things after him; he was headed towards what I guessed was supposed to be funhouse or something like that. The outcropping was pretty high, so it took a couple of progressive jumps down to get all the way down. By then, the mist had gotten well into the carnival, and Fenris was scrapping with some muscle man with a hammer. I barely had time to feel sorry for the dude when I heard a shot from inside the cabin just as the mist began advancing on it, too. It looked like the Gangrels had this well in hand, so I ran to the funhouse to help Adam.

The funhouse was a mix between a maze and an obstacle course with a lot of smoke and mirrors. The first part was just getting in; the floor beneath my feet was turning like a conveyor belt going against me. The walls in the foyer hall of this house also shifted, creating the illusion that for every step I took forward the entrance to the next part was actually getting farther away. Since Adam glided in I bet this wasn't even an issue for him, but it was a pain in the ass for me, especially since a lot of my pets got caught up on the treadmill like, well, like rats on a treadmill. It wasn't that difficult to through, just annoying really. On the other side, Adam stood waiting. We had two options; we could go left towards a swinging door, or right along a floor that looked like the material they make trampolines out of. At the other end of the trampoline was a ladder inside a tubular spire. From memory I could tell that this was a spire from the outside, so unless there was a platform along the way, all it really led to was like a lookout window in a tower.

We opted for the left and headed for the door. Adam in the lead, he barely touched the door when we heard a growling noise on the other side. Even a bunch of rats underfoot turned and scurried away. Adam stopped and made a series of hand signals that I guess were a code from his days as a Fed; I didn't know what they actually meant but got the gist of what he was trying to tell me. He was gonna rush in and try to get the jump on whatever was in there and I was supposed to be his back up. Producing the .45 I brought with me out of the waistband of my track pants, I nodded. It sounded like some kind of large animal on the other side; maybe a bear. The .45 wouldn't likely be of much use, but it was something.

Adam rushed the room; I charged in after him. On the way in I heard the growling again and saw Adam get thrown sideways deeper into the room as sure enough, a brown bear lumbered towards him, basically ignoring me. The bear was almost on top of Adam by the time he got to his feet; barely in time to duck under another swipe from its massive front paw. In desperation, Adam reached up and somehow managed to lock his arms around its neck in an awkward headlock type position. It didn't look like that was going to do any good, so I took a shot at the bear, nailing with a slug just to the right of its asshole. The bear growled and glanced at me long enough to but Adam some time to improve his grip and from behind me I heard a laugh. I spun around and saw Alexis standing at the other end of the room, a curtain blocking the entrance into another room. I raised the .45 and aimed it at him and in a blink he tossed a throwing dagger at me, psyching me out just enough to throw off my aim so my shot went wild. Before the dagger even touched me, it exploded into a bright light, blinding me for a second. In that second, Alexis had vanished; presumably deeper into funhouse. I looked over at Adam with the bear.

"I got this!" he shouted. "Go after him!"

I charged after Alexis through the curtain and got hit with the worst sensation of vertigo I had ever encountered in my life. Initially the room I entered appeared to be a twisted and warped chamber that turned over on itself with an endless series of corridors and curtains that stretched into an eternity. The ceiling and the floor were interchangeable. I lost my balance for a second, and I could hear Alexis laughing. Once I got my equilibrium back, I could see that son of a bitch everywhere all at once. He was laughing as he shuffled a deck of cards. That's when I clued into what was going on; the room was wall to wall and top to bottom mirrors. Even the ceiling and floors were mirrors. The only apparent break was the curtain I passed through and another exit somewhere else in the room; and Alexis was apparently standing just in front of it.

I aimed and fired where I thought he was with the .45 and the spot he was standing exploded into a thousand tiny shards he responded with a smirk of contempt before tossing one of his playing cards at me; it flared up into a ball of light inches from my face, blinding me a moment. The effect magnified by being in such a highly reflective room. In anguish and frustration I dropped the gun to cover my eyes. In that moment I felt his fist plant itself into my gut. I swung blind and my fist slammed into glass as a flurry of those damned playing cards fluttered around me like a bunch of bats, flowed up by the Ravnos ramming into me with his bulk and forcing me into a wall to pin me there.

 _Now I got you, dumbass._

As I grabbed him by the throat with one hand and rabbit-punched him in that laughing mouth of his, I called as many of my rats to swarm him as I could. Still blinded I could feel him struggle to get free from my grip, making gurgling squeals of revulsion all the while; my pets must have arrived in force. As my vision started to return, I could see just how right I was; Alexis was covered to the point only his face was visible. He was a flailing man made of vermin. I lifted him off the floor and ordered my pets to depart before tossing back out of the mirror room through the curtain. He landed on the other side of the curtain onto the wooden floor with a sickening thump. Even though I wasted no time in going after him, I heard him cry out in pain following the unmistakable sound of bones grinding and cracking. It wasn't hard to figure out that Adam got his bear issue sorted; I'd have to ask him about that later. I got past the curtain just as Adam was releasing his right arm, which was nearly twisted into a pretzel and pushing him in my general direction. I nailed him with another sucker punch across the jaw, dropping him. Then I picked him up by his stupid looking ponytail to let him get a good at my ever so pleasant face before head-butting him for good measure. By then he was barely conscious.

"You got sonority in this town, partner." Adam growled through his bowling-ball nads. "It's your call who gets to do the honors."

"Alexis of Clan Ravnos," I said, "you are under arrest by order of her highness Prince Therese Vooreman of the Domain of Los Angeles on the grounds of entering her Domain without even so much as an effort to seek her acknowledgement."

"What..." he started to protest weakly. I pushed him into the nearest wall; not hard enough to hurt him, just enough to shut him up.

"You best shut up, asshole." Adam warned.

"Under her authority, I and my associate here will bring you before the court of this city to determine what will happen to you next."

"Wait," he protested again. "I was under the impression Los Angeles was a Free State."

"Save it for the court." I countered, grabbing his bad arm to pull him towards the exit of his fun house. Adam grabbed his other arm, warning him not to try anything stupid as we led him back to the outskirts of the carnival. We got there to see that Imalia, Fenris, and the Gangrels had the situation there well under control. It wasn't quite as pretty as it could have been, but overall Fenris' strategy worked out about as clean as could be expected. The strongman was out cold and face down in the sand, but he looked like he would live. Besides that it was a clean collar; not pretty, but clean.

We waited a second as Fenris made the appropriate reports and arrangements.

"So where do we take this piece of crap to meet Therese?" I asked.

A grin of malice that I wouldn't have thought possible on the Gangrel girl's cutesy teen aged face crossed her lips; making her look more psychotic than Marko.

"Even better," she almost snarled. "The Prince is indisposed at the moment. We have to take him to the Seneschal." The look of sadistic glee in her eyes managed to give _me_ the creeps a little. It was the kind of look that only a teenage girl bully can ever get really right. "From the sound of his voice, he's not in the best of moods as it is..." she let her voice trail off and flashed me a quick wink.

"Oh, boy," I said with mock worry; playing along with what Fenris was doing here to keep this guy off balance. "That's not too good for your chances, pal." I said right in Alexis' ear. "Cameron's a hard-line Camarilla supporter and has the kind of resources that could pretty much buy Long Beach end to end if he wanted to. Whatever excuse you have for flouting the Tradition of Domain you have had better be good; or you're basically fucked."

Fenris picked up a pointed stick. She motioned Adam and I to hold Alexis still, and staked him into torpor.

"I trust you have a route to the Museum." She more stated than asked. She didn't specify, but it was clear she was talking to Imalia and I. We said we did. Fenris told us which conference room Cameron would be in.

Imalia produced a burlap sack and placed it over the Ravnos' head to serve as a blindfold in case he was aware of his surroundings, and we took our cargo to the museum via our sewer routes.


	6. Chapter 6

Shortly after Cameron did his thing with Alexis the Ravnos; which basically worked out to putting him in a box to review later on; I got a call from every Nosferatu's favorite ghoul, Knox Harrington. As far as I knew, he was supposed to be off duty. This call was entirely voluntary; I had to respect and even admire his dedication.

"I'm at the Asylum," he reported. "Oh, man; you would not believe the scene in here! Marko just left Jeanette on the dance floor like his ass was on fire, and you'll never guess who took his spot on Jeanette's dance card!"

"Wait; let me try to anyway." I replied, playing along. "Ash Rivers; he only faked his death and is now back in California to pay his respects to Isaac. He decided to cut loose in Santa Monica while he was at it." Yeah, I was making light of Knox's work. I knew he wouldn't be calling me if it was some mundane or impossible thing, but experience taught me that a little bit of ribbing keeps the guy working hard.

"Hey, c'mon, man," Knox whined. "How often do I bother you with stupid shit like that? I'm telling you this is something big, or it will lead up to something big."

"Okay, Knox; you win." I said in consolation. "You're right; I have no idea. Who filled Jeanette's dance card once Marko ran out on her like a bat of hell?"

"Aww, man; you will not believe it! I'm looking at it right now and I can barely believe my eyes! It's that skinny Tremere chick from your Super Seven group! Isn't she, like, the Tremere boss or something? My God, this is blowing my mind! They look like they're really getting into each other, too!" Knox howled like a horny teenager that snuck into a strip bar for the first time in his life. Given the ruckus I could hear around him on his end of the line, he apparently fit right in. That aside, he was dead right; the Primogen of Clan Tremere and the 'sister' of the Prince getting cozy was a big deal.

"Listen carefully, Knox." I said. "Watch them closely now. Tell me, which one is working which?" Adam turned his head, suddenly interested. With his little pinpricks of white in those hollow eye sockets of his boring into me, he mouthed the words 'What's going on?' I held up one finger to him; signalling I needed him to let me finish this conversation.

"I dunno." He replied. "It's like they're both working each other. You think they might be forming some kind of alliance or something?"

"It's hard to say." I said back. "Look, Knox, I know it's supposed to be your night off, but I need two things from you. I'll make sure Bertram knows you're going above and beyond. Is that cool with you?"

Knox cheered exuberantly; whether at my request and offer at whatever was going on there I might never know for sure. "Hell yeah, it's cool!" he exclaimed. "What do you need?"

"Great; I knew I could count on you." I answered. "First, I need an update on the whereabouts of that Toreador stripper. You know, Cammie's girlfriend. Second, and this is the big one, I need you to keep an eye Tabetha and Jeanette until I get there. Can you do that?"

"No problem there," he answered. "It's funny you should ask about Kaila, actually; I just got a message from one of our guys at Vesuvius. She just left. In fact, she got into a cab headed for that house in the hills she lives in when she's not shacking up with Cammie." He was silent for about a tenth of a second. "Whoa! Jeanette is practically dragging her to the elevator now!" He laughed lecherously. It kind of sounded like the kind of laugh Bertram would use; it seemed Knox was picking up a few of his master's mannerisms. "You want me to try to follow them?" His question was asked with a weird combination of apprehension and pleading; he afraid of what would happen to him if he got caught, but was hoping to catch a little hot action. The reality of the situation was that the scenario was far too dangerous for a ghoul; even if he was being considered for the embrace.

"Watch the elevator." I advised. "If either of them leaves, tail that one." I ended the call before Knox could make any other comment. Looking at Adam, I gave him a summary of the conversation with Knox, including the likely whereabouts of Kaila.

"How reliable is this Knox person?" He asked.

"Very" I replied. "In fact, Bertram is considering turning him over. He has this brilliant act that makes him look like a complete fool, which prompts others to let their guard down around him. At any rate, his information always turns out good enough to work with."

Adam nodded. "If this Kaila isn't at the Strip Club, then it's unlikely the Seneschal will be. He might go and visit her. While the two women are still the most likely suspects..." He stopped talking there, leaving his thought unfinished.

"What are you thinking?" I asked.

Adam shook his head. "Never mind" he replied.

I wasn't going to let him off that easy; big shot Camarilla Bounty Hunter or not. "Don't shut me out now, Walker." I insisted. "We're Nosferatu, and we share all. Besides, if I'm going to be able to help you, I need to know. Are you saying that you're putting Cameron on the suspect list?"

Adam said nothing. That was answer enough. I got why he didn't want to say it; the implications of the Seneschal of a large Domain like Los Angeles being replaced by member of the Red List were disturbing, to say the least. If he said it and was wrong, that would be bad for him. If he was right, then was bad for everyone whether he said so or not. Unless, of course, if he stopped her; then his status and reputation would be near legendary.

"You better have a damn good reason." I warned. Sure Cameron was a bit of jerk at times, but over the last ten years he and I been through lot together. He was kind of a hard ass and a cut throat in the boardroom, but he did have a sort of sick nobility to him, and I did consider him a friend; kind of. "I mean, yeah, he's been getting a bit distant lately, but then being Seneschal is probably a big job; that's to be expected. Besides, he's probably just been a little bit whipped by his girl."

"I doubt his remoteness has much of anything to do with his job." Adam snapped, irritated. He calmed himself down, and then continued. "As part of my new condition, I have a rare ability among our Clan; I've developed a natural knack with Auspex along with our normal abilities. My sire told me it was a mutation in our blood that happens from time to time. I used my abilities on Cameron and picked up on something I'm sure he's gone to length to keep out of public knowledge; his heart is missing."

If I could blink, I would have. A flood of memories came rushing back. There was the time I was checking out Cameron's emails and learned it was him who sent the Assamites after the Barons. There was the fight I got in with a Setite in his apartment building basement; the one where I staked the creep and he shrugged it off and returned the favor like it was nothing. _My turn, he said._ There was Cameron having that powwow with Alejandro. There was the thing with two Camerons. _Could Adam be right? Had that bitch worked her way all the way to Cameron, even before any of us had any idea she was here?_ Any way I turned it in my head, it was possible. From what I knew about Khemintiri, it was quite possible.

"It's your turn." Adam said. "Now you're the one holding back. Quid pro quo, Ajax, that's how it works now."

I sighed. "It's just some stuff that went down with Cameron a few months ago." I told him. "Right around the time the Setites tried to move in. That was when we first learned she might be here."

"Go on" he said, sounding exactly like a cop. "Tell me everything."

I did. I told him all of it; from his part in the Assamite attacks on Isaac, Gary, Nines, and Therese to his undercover work with the Setite Priest that he later dusted. I told him about the fight I had with the Setite. I told him about the double that killed Heather. I laid it all out for him, and as I did the account seemed more and more damning. I was starting to feel sick.

Adam grinned bitterly; I couldn't tell if he was pissed or pleased. I think it was a bit of both. He cracked his knuckles. "Thank you for sharing," he said finally. "I know it doesn't feel like it now, but you did the right thing." He paused, thinking. "Okay; here' what we're going to do. You already told...Knox, was it? Good. You already told him you would go to this Asylum place to meet with him and follow up that lead. That's what you'll do. Now I need you to tell me where Kaila lives so I can follow up that lead. We will meet up again in the Warrens to compare notes and decide our next move from there."

I lead Adam to the sewer access tunnel that made the best access to the house that Andrei the Tzimizce once called home and gave him directions from there. I watched as he took the tunnel and eventually vanished from sight; off to bust some scaly-assed ancient Setite that might be either seducing or worse impersonating someone I count among my allies. Head low, I made my way to the tunnel that provided the most direct route to Santa Monica so I could spy on someone who might or might not be someone I had a great deal of respect for doing nasty things with the alternate personality of our esteemed Prince.

The night had such a good start, but now it looked like it was all but promising to have a shitty ending.


	7. Chapter 7

So I was right; that night had a pretty crappy ending. Not as bad as I thought it could, but bad enough. By the time I got to Asylum, Tabetha was just leaving. She nearly ran right into me as she left the building with a cat that ate the canary grin on her face. I don't think I've ever seen her show much of any emotion before that; it was really a little bit unnerving – like seeing Wednesday Addams smile. She hailed a cab and sped away. I caught Knox's attention just before he was about to get into a cab to follow hers, and hand signalled him to just send Mitnick what he had so far, and have Mitnick send me the location where her cab stopped. I had a pretty good Idea where, anyway. In the Warrens, I started on my way towards Downtown, near the Chantry. I was well on my way when I got the message from Mitnick telling me I was close, but not quite right. Tabetha did go Downtown, but not to her Chantry; not right away. First she went to the Museum. I advised that our agent there should get as close to her as possible to find out why, and headed for the Chantry anyway, for what good it would have done; the one way in that I found that one time was now sealed.

The following night, a little before the Gathering, Bobbi caught up to me and told me Tabetha had a chat with Dorian, the Toreador VV made Steward of the Museum, and Rutger the Talon. Dorian said that as far as he knew, VV was planning on challenging in for the role of Harpy as well as retaining her current role as Keeper. Bert seemed okay with that shit, I couldn't figure why. When I met up with Adam, he said he pretty much drew a blank on his check on Kaila.

At the Gathering, the Clan had uncharacteristically clustered together rather than spread out to catch whatever we could. Adam and I stood a bit apart to pay attention to what was happening on the stage. Behind us, the Clan, mostly Imalia, was griping about the Whoreadors and their need to be the absolute centre of everything. Let them, some countered, it makes them that much easier to observe. Bertram said little, except that he had no intention of becoming Therese's puppet.

Leaning in slightly, I asked Adam what he figured Cameron and her Highness was talking about.

"He's trying to promote me to replace your Sheriff." He answered. For a second I was going to ask how he knew that, then I remembered his mutation thing; he could probably hear them.

"Do you want the job?" I asked, and figuratively kicked myself in the ass right after. Of course the answer to that would be no; he already had a job way bigger than that.

Ignoring my question, he commented. "Her highness is playing along. That means she's being tight lipped about my so called audit. Out of curiosity, what sort of relationship do the Prince and the Sheriff have?"

It was my turn to answer as if the question was one where the answer should be self evident. "You said yourself that Damsel is a firebrand Anarch Soul." I replied. "You think The Prince isn't aware of that? She has Fenris on her like glue. How Fenris manages to maintain a friendship with Damsel and remain true to her duties – which is to honor a boon – is beyond me."

Saying nothing, Walker pressed his lips to a pencil thin line.

"There's another thing to consider," I pointed out. "Since Cameron seems to know why you're really here, the fact he's selling you for Sheriff says he hasn't outed you. That fact says something against him being a suspect."

"That could be true." Adam admitted. "Or it could be _she_ is trying to box me in; either directly, or by putting him up to it."

He had a point. I hated it, but that was the truth.

"Kindred of the City Angels" Fenris called out, standing front and center stage. "On behalf of her Highness Therese Vooreman, Prince of Los Angeles, I call this Gathering to order!"

Everyone fell instantly silent as The Prince took front and center and her Hound went back to the wings.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen; let me begin by thanking you all for changing your schedules to accommodate this vital Gathering tonight." Therese stated. For a moment, she reminded me a little bit of Sebastian LaCroix on that first night that seven of us were hauled in front the Kindred of this city and he was set and ready to have us all publicly slaughtered. He would have, too, if not for Rodriguez calling him out on his bullshit.

"As no doubt many of you have already noticed, our Sheriff, Damsel, is absent tonight." She continued. "At this time I call on the Primogen of her Clan to give us an update on her status. Primogen DeFaulte, if you would."

Stepping forward, Tye shot Fenris a glance; she responded with a shrug and mouthed the words 'I had to say something'.

"We have confirmed that she has indeed been captured and detained a group calling themselves Brightstone." Tyler said. "Brightstone is the group that have situated themselves in the old LaCroix building under the auspice of being a new anti-terror branch of the Federal Government. We have a plan in motion to extract her and to bring this faction down."

"When you say 'we', who does that include?" The Prince asked.

"The Brujah Clan and certain members of the Toreador Clan." He replied.

"Mr. Vega; do you confirm your Clan's part in this plan?"

X stood. "I do, Highness." He confirmed. "I have associates up north that identified the Brightstone group as a privately funded militant faction working in cooperation with a branch of the Federal Government and at least one criminal organization. Even as we speak there are both Toreador and Brujah rallying our connections within the media and public opinion to generate a public outcry against them on the grounds they are a step towards the implementation of a State of Martial Law.

Therese nodded once curtly. Cameron raised a loosely clenched fist to his mouth and bit gently on one knuckle. Personally, I was a little surprised that Tyler and X hadn't reported this sooner.

"Mr. DeFaulte," Therese said finally. "When is this extraction meant to take place?"

"Right after we are done here," Tye answered, "I just have to pick up a specific device in order to aid us in completing this mission with a minimum of bloodshed."

"Very well;" Therese said, "Take Fenris with you on this." She turned to Fenris. "I will be expecting a full report on the event."

"You'll have it." Fenris said glumly.

"I beg your pardon?"

"I said you'll have a full and detailed report by this time tomorrow night, Highness." The Gangrel said, this time more clearly.

"That's more like it." The Prince scowled. "Once she is extracted, I want her brought to me directly for a debriefing."

"I understand, Highness."

"Good" Therese said. I can't speak for anyone other than me, but it seemed obvious that what the Prince would want from that would be to confirm that Damsel wasn't somehow compromised by those jerks to screw with us in some way. Therese Vooreman might have more than her share of bats in her belfry, but that didn't make her stupid; not by a long shot.

"With that as sorted out as it can be for now, let us move on to the primary purpose of this Gathering tonight." She shifted her gaze away from Tyler and Xavier as they sat back down and on to Tabetha. "Miss Toussaint, the floor is yours for the moment. Please enlighten us on the situation concerning our former Harpy."

Tabetha stepped up. After giving the crowd a good once-over, she calmly relayed the decree given her by her council; that the former Regent was recalled to Tremere HQ. By her account, Strauss was up for review; under suspicion of treason against both the Camarilla and more importantly against Clan Tremere- specifically by way of being in defiance of the Founder Himself. As a result, by will of the Council and the Founder, she had been named acting Regent of the Tremere Chantry in Los Angeles: and now there is need for the Court to appoint a new Harpy.

Before anyone could really comment, the Prince thanked Tabetha for her update and advised that we leave her Clan's affairs to her Clan and move on to the business of her Court. With that, she gave the floor to her Seneschal.

"Thank you, Highness" Cameron stepped forward. "Ladies and Gentlemen, Primogen of the Council, and honored members of the Vooreman Court; we are here tonight in response to a vacancy in an important office within our great society. I met with each of the Primogen- or at the very least their proxy – and discussed the matter. Together, we have come to the _almost_ unanimous consensus on who would be the ideal candidate for the office of Harpy. On behalf of her Highness, it gives no small amount of pleasure to call Bertram Tung, Elder of the Clan Nosferatu forward to join the Court into the office of Harpy of the city of Los Angeles. In the interest of all fairness, I also open the floor to any who wish to challenge him for this time honored position within the Ivory Tower."

Before Cameron could declare that he saw no challengers, Velvet took a single step forward.

"Hold on there, fledgling," Bertram spoke up. "Let me ask you a simple question. While you were running around collecting the endorsements of the Primogen for your Prince, did it ever occur to either one of you to see if your pick had any interest in taking the job in the first place?"

A collective gasp could be heard just before a hush fell across the crowd. I have to admit, I did not see that coming. I don't think any of us did. Both Cameron and Therese were certainly taken aback. Cameron in particular seemed momentarily at a loss for words.

"Elder Tung;" The Prince spoke up, "Do you mean to tell me that you are declining on my offer? I extend this as an olive branch and you're throwing it in my face like this?"

I wanted to lean aside and note to Walker that the Prince's tirade was fairly typical of her relations with Bert, but tonight it was seemed somehow a little bit 'on the nose'. I held back for the time being; since it's no secret that Bert and Therese never got along, it could be she was in reality relieved that it seemed like he was turning down the job. I had no idea why he was doing it, but that's how it seemed. It made no sense. Even if it was about his distaste for the conservative Vooreman girl, I would think being in her Court would drive her even more batshit than she already was. What was Bertram up to?

"I'm not throwing anything anywhere, Sister." Bertram countered. "I'm asking your Seneschal a simple question; did he or did he not bother to confirm whether I even wanted the position? Or did the two of just assume I would jump at the chance to let you place me in nice little pigeon-hole?"

I hadn't thought of that. In a weird sort of way it actually made sense. Watching the stage, I noted that Bertram's near-formal round and about rejection was just about driving Cameron insane. As for Therese, she was already a first-class nutcase so it was hard to tell.


	8. Chapter 8

If there was one good thing about Adam's suspicion that Tabetha has gone diablerist, it would have to be that it all but had to knock her down the list of possible candidates to be Khemintiri. If you know anything about the Red List, you'd know that it was pretty much invented because of that bitch; she's basically public enemy number one among the Kindred, and was the first one ever put on it. If you follow the Lore, you know that she's the Childer of the Setite Clan Founder- that being Sutekh himself. That makes her something like five tiny generations removed Cain, the first of our kind. Someone that old and strong in the Blood would have no need for diablerie, other than maybe for some kind of sick thrill. I know it's a cold consolation, but sometimes you gotta take what you can get.

That doesn't change the fact that diablerie is a serious charge that needs investigating. I agreed to look into it, and Adam wanted to keep his eyes on Cameron and Kaila. Of course, the one major problem I had was I didn't really know how to go about proving one way or the other; I have no Auspex ability, and besides that I can only really think that maybe the Warlocks have a way to discern a diablerist. Somehow I kind of doubted that I could just ask the Tremere to do a test on their Primogen. That left options of Auspex. The Whoreadors wouldn't likely help me on this one; VV was bidding for Harpy, and word had it that Tabetha planted the idea in head in the first place. The Lunatics also presented a problem; Knox made it perfectly clear that Tabetha was getting real cozy with Jeanette. Was it to make sure nobody would look too closely? Or did she have some other agenda? I could try spurring jealousy in Marko, but for all I know he might be into what's going on; it's no secret that that he and Tabetha seem to work well together for some reason, and seem to have a weird-ass way of being on the same page on most things.

There was no two about it; I was pretty fucking stuck here.

So I was on my way out of Chinatown, intent on at least trying to get in; either right through the front door or maybe the Warlocks made a mistake in their security. It had happened before, it could easily happen again. Meanwhile, Adam said he was going to take a closer look at the Seneschal and his little girlfriend. He said he would be discreet, and I guess I had to believe him. I really had no idea what he had in mind, and I wasn't sure I even wanted to know. Cops, especially Feds, always had a way of creeping me out. Based on what I've seen from him so far, I had an idea he knew what he was doing when it came to this kind of thing.

The route I chose to access the Warrens took me towards that weird-ass shop with the old man that talks in riddles and proverbs all the time. Now I know this next thing is going to come off sounding like some kind of bullshit deux-ex-machina thing, but it really did just happen to work out that I barely ducked into the alley along the east side of the building just as Marko was stepping out. Curious, I decided to tail him. He headed straight to the Fu Syndicate building; a place I knew all too well after the time I ran afoul of that Mandarin twat about ten years ago. For reasons I will probably never quite comprehend, the Malkavian was carrying a rake and whistling "Old Macdonald". Once there, he lingered around the front, raked some of the nearby hedges, and collected a bunch of butts, which he put into his pocket. Then he began to case the joint. Around back, he got the drop on a janitor who was dumping a mop bucket and pausing for a smoke break. After topping himself up a bit, he dragged the poor sap back into the building.

Whatever he was up to, there was a chance I could use it; or at the Clan might. I still had to get a bead on Tabetha, but this was right in front of me and maybe I could use Marko to get to her after all. Obfuscated, I started towards the door that Marko just went into. Then my phone buzzed. I hit the answer button without looking at the display.

"Where in the fuck are you?" Imalia demanded before I could say a word. As usual, she sounded pissed about something.

"I'm in Chinatown." I replied. "I just caught sight of Marko dropping a janitor to get into the Fu building here. He's up to something; most likely for that freaky shop owner. I was just about to follow him to find out what."

"I thought you're supposed to get your ass Downtown to see what dirt there is on that witch-bitch!"

"That's true, honeybunch," I confirmed. "But I figure that Marko is about as close to Tabetha as any non Tremere can be. Maybe we can exploit what he's doing here to get the goods on her."

Imalia was quiet for a second. I could hear her say something to someone on her end, and then what sounded like Mitnick reply.

"You forget about that for now." She ordered. "Barabbas is in the area; he'll keep eyes on that and fill you in if there's anything useful. I need you to get Downtown right away. Adam just checked in. Cammie and his bitch just parted ways. She's headed back to Hollywood to play snitch for him regarding VV's campaign, and he just got off the horn with some Russkie named Dmitri. Cammie ratted Fenris, Tyler, and his boys out. Brightstone know their coming. I need you to get down there and warn them. I'm on my way to Hollywood to watch that scene, and Adam's staying on Cammie."

"Why can't Barabbas go downtown?"

"For one thing, YOU'RE supposed to there already. For another, I need Cammie to trust Barabbas even more implicitly than he does you. For a third thing, Cammie lived Downtown is bound to come home. You are Adam's tour guide and his chosen right hand on his mission; and for a final thing, BECAUSE I FUCKING SAID SO!"

I caught Barabbas climbing to the surface out of the storm drain just as I held my phone away from ear while Imalia reamed me out. I pointed at the service door. He looked at it, chuckled, and climbed back down the drain, saying he knew a better way in. At least that's what I think he said; he was back into talking like something out of that Clockwork Orange flick again.

"Okay, babe," I soothed. "I'm going downtown. Barabbas is right here anyway."

Technically, it's impossible to slam a cell phone, but somehow Imalia managed to create that effect. Being with her is always a gamble; you never know if 'bump and grind' will be a sex thing, a fight thing, or some combination of the two. I love her for that.

So I popped out of the Warrens in Downtown, about two blocks from the Brightstone HQ. The first thing I notice is a line of Navy suits standing around like they're waiting for something to happen about two blocks farther away; I know that's Tyler's crew. I come around to them via the alleys because I kind of have to. I was thinking about giving them a little jump scare, but as I get just about close enough I feel the unmistakable touch of the barrel of a .38 pres against my neck. For the most part the Brujah clan are about as sharp as bag of bowling balls regardless of how much they protest and talk about being 'philosopher kings'; but this bunch are well trained, I'll give them that much.

"What're you doing here, Sewer-Rat?" the gal with the .38 asked me. "This ain't an open party. We don't want a lot of outsiders getting into Clan business."

"Put that pea-shooter away, sweetness." I counter. "I'm only here to give you clowns a little heads up."

Slowly she pulls the pistol away from my neck and quickly replaces it with her hand. "Come with me." She growled as she dragged me to the rest of the group. I keep forgetting how quick and strong the Rabble can be. She shoved me in front of a couple of her Clansmen who turned around to see what the ruckus was about.

"Look what I found nosing around." She said. "He says he's got some news for us."

"This better be good, Ajax." One of them warned. "We're about to engage in a major mission here. If this is a waste of time I will personally fuck you up."

"That's what I'm here for. You might want to rethink your strategy, Beefcake. You've been ratted out; they know you're coming."

Apparently it was too late to change the plan. Based on the string of curses the Brujah let out, things were already well in motion; Tyler and two others were already inside, and Fenris wouldn't take a pass on Therese's order to take part. She was inside, too. What was also evident was that I didn't have to tell him who finked out this operation. That didn't surprise me; Cameron was the obvious suspect, given the animosity between him and Tyler.

That was when a muted thud filled the air and the lights went out for some three blocks around Brightstone HQ.

"That's our cue." The .38 chick pointed out. "It looks like we gotta go ahead and do this."

"Dammit!" Beefcake exclaimed. His troops started to move in onto their target. He glanced at me. "Well, you're here now. Are you in or out?"

My phone buzzed. The display told me it was Barabbas. "I gotta take this call, Beefcake. You go on ahead with you extraction. I'll catch up."

Beefcake scowled at me and mumbled something as he joined the charge.

I took the call. "Ajax" I greeted.

"My brother, you're going to be right interessovated in this, this, I promise. I just viddied our bezoomy droogie have a bit of dirty twenty-to-one in the form of a bitva with a real cheena who was real horrorshow with the blades. All this to make a drop in a locker and make that janitor pay for the trouble." Barabbas said. Before I could ask, he continued his narrative. "Once done with that, he ittied back to the old veck in the shop where he was allowed to skvat a package wrapped up in cloth. I overhead what the package does, and it's supposed to steal souls or some such cal. The best part, my droogie, is the bratchny called Mitnick to help set up a narrative for the Millicents."

Sometimes I wonder if Barabbas is one of ours at all and not just a really fugly Malk. At any rate, I managed to grasp what he was talking about without my brain turning into oatmeal and thanked him. I wasn't sure how I could use that info, but I had thought of a way that I might be able to get Marko to do a check on Tabetha anyway. I looked over towards Brightstone, which was already sounding like a warzone, looked the opposite direction towards the Chantry.

"Fuck it!" I growled. Obfuscating, I headed towards Brightstone.


	9. Chapter 9

Let me be completely clear about one thing right now; Tyler's extraction plan was piss poor to start with. They would have been better off with ski masks or some shit. The fact they got ratted out didn't help anything, but the approach was all wrong to start with. For one thing, the use of an EMP was bound to start a shitstorm; I'm not sure if that was really a problem or possibly a help. I suppose they could have used the chaos created by the inevitable looters and vandals to hide their activities, but for that to work they would have been better off making themselves to look like part of the crowd.

By the time I caught up, the Brightstone troopers or whatever they want to call themselves had the Brujah held off, and the building was well locked down. As should have been expected, it didn't take a lot of time for the looting and general assfuckery to begin. The smart play here would have been to don ski masks or something and wait for the shit to really hit the fan and then jump into the fray; they could have hidden their efforts by looking just like the rest of punks raising hell. Since they were now in official looking uniforms, the only play they really had was to engage in crowd control. In its own way, this helped me out; some of the guards chipped in with the crowd control, and that made an opening for me to slip into the building undetected. As reinforcements flied out the door, I easily slid in behind them unseen; my obfuscation unbroken and made all the more convincing in a blackout.

If the scene outside the building was a mess, then the scene Tyler and his two clowns had going on was a total shitshow. I just hoped we could count on Fenris to have her act together better than this.

Let me lay the scene down for you:

By the time I got into the Brightstone building, one of those Brujah clowns had taken three shots from three different angles. From the report of their weapons, I'd say the Brightstone goons were packing .45's. Those things hurt, even if you happen to be a big badass vampire. The other one that went in with Tye – I don't remember their names – was fending off three thugs of his own. Well, I guess it was more like two; he knocked one of 'em cold before the other two pretty much fell on him. From the look of it these guys were just a little bit stronger than your garden variety mortal thug, but I figured he'd be okay for the moment. Since Tyler rushed the guy I pegged to be the commanding officer with a shoulder tackle like some kind of football lineman amped on crank, it was pretty clear to me my priority should be the goons with the guns. One of them, the one farthest from me, took another shot and tagged the Brujah again, and the one closest was getting ready to take another shot of his own. The third one was looking to get a clean shot on Tye without hitting his boss.

Moving in on the closest goon, I grabbed his shooting arm by the wrist and snapped it backwards. That's the thing with Potence; you can do that real convincingly. I damn near snapped his hand clean off. Still holding on as he screamed in agony, I dropped obfuscate and pulled him in close so he could get a good hard look at my beautiful smiling face. Much to my satisfaction, his screams of pain turned into shrieks of terror as a head-butted him, smashing his nose flat as a pancake and shattering his goggles.

"My eyes" he wailed, "oh sweet Jesus, my eyes!" I took a moment to glance at his face and saw that a few tiny shards from his goggles flew back into eyes. The thought crossed my mind that the poor sap might be permanently blind, the last he saw being me. I'm not sure if I should feel good about that or not, but part of me did. Not all of me; there was part of me that figured nobody deserved that.

Yep, the beast and my humanity were at odds tonight.

The goon looking for a clear shot switched targets. Tye was doing a good job keeping his guy in the path of any available shot as they went at it. There was that, at least. Clean shot goon was taking aim at me. Hoisting wailing blind goon overhead, I tossed him across the foyer, him landing on his partner in a cross-body fashion. With luck, one would try to attend the other's wounds. There was another report from a .45; our last remaining shooter must have figured his first target was done with four slugs in him. His shot winged me; knocking me off balance for a fraction of a second. It seemed this guy was a crack-shot. If he wasn't dealt with double quick, he'd be real problem. Seeing Tye was proving to be a match for the boss – I wondered vaguely why these mortals were proving so tough, in particular the boss, this ain't no video game, after all – and that Tye's buddy was down to one adversary, I turned and leaped at the crack-shot.

The look on his face as I cleared the room to land right on top of him, snarling through my bright and shiny perma-grin suggested to me that he was in the process of making fudge-brownies in his shorts, but he still managed to get another shot off. This one nicked my ear. I had to hand it this one; even when panicked that a Nosferatu in all my glory is about to drop in from the sky into his lap, while making them brownies, he was still able to hold steady enough to damn near hit a moving target; the target being the source of his terror. As I landed, he crumpled under my weight and the momentum of my descent. His .45 clattered away on the marble floor. Still, I had a modicum of respect for the crack-shot; as we struggled a little, I pulled his goggles off before mashing my fist into his face, knocking several of his teeth cleanly out of his mouth before his lights went out.

I got up and turned to view the scene. Tye looked like he was finally getting the upper hand on the boss, but the second shooter was a cold-blooded bastard. He left his own guy to wail and moan in favor of moving in on the Brujah that didn't get pumped full of lead. Instead, he got the stake. He dropped, torpid. The cold-blooded bastard and the thug that was still standing by then had decided to rush to their bosses' aid. I managed to intercept one of them; but cold-blood gat all the way to Tyler, who greeted him with a back-elbow. I'm not sure if that was deliberate or a fluke, but it was effective; the blow landed right on the button. That was when the thug I caught up with revealed he had a piece, too. He nailed me, point blank, in the gut. It was just enough to lurch me over just as a fine mist started to fill the foyer and the elevator doors started to get pried open manually. About a half-dozen more guards started to spill in.

"Well, I guess we're really screwed now," I muttered, dropping to one knee and nailing the thug in front of me with a low blow. The thug doubled over, out of the game for the moment as I healed my wound and got ready for the next round.


	10. Chapter 10

Two days have passed since that gong show over at Brightstone. In those two days, Knox reports that Xavier and Tyler have got their little protest movement going strong; it must be half the city is up in arms against the government trying to implement martial law, the way he tells it. I took a peak myself last night. While Knox has clearly developed a sense of hyperbole, he's right in that the demonstrators in front of the old Venture Tower got pretty big really fast. Deb of Night seems to have picked up the protest ball and is running for the goal line with it hard; every other caller is about how this exact kind of thing is happening all up and down the West Coast. One caller even mentioned that the Portland Chapter is already starting to shut down. Here in LA, Tyler and X seem to be backstage players. I'm pretty damn sure that was X's call. Given his association with Confession, Tyler really has very little choice but to keep a low profile anyway. He and Damsel have opened the doors to the Hollowbrook as a temporary shelter while the church turned nightclub id getting rebuilt into a more permanent 'resource center' for the 'marginalized.' I actually like that. Being Nosferatu, I know a little bit about being regarded as second class. Granted we Nos make use of that status to keep us on the fringe where we can operate basically unmonitored by those who like to be willfully blind, but that doesn't change the fact that those who are on the fringe frequently get disregarded, disrespected, and dismissed by the 'upper classes'. That or some may try to exploit the fact we are somewhat out of sight and ignored.

Case in point; One would have to look really damn hard to find any stories in the news regarding the homeless pop who were inside Brightstone and their claims of being used for experiments that they don't even understand. Maybe that's a good thing overall; I bet X and Deb have to do a lot of editing to make sure the Media doesn't get any Masquerade breeching info there. As a note, if one wanted to read up on that, I'd recommend they start their search on page five on the fold of any given paper. It would be a short article, no more than three paragraphs. Deb gets a few hits on the experiments, too. The reality of it is this: The hobos were being used to drip-feed Damsel enough so she could used like a booster tap for the goons at Brightstone. The idea was to use her blood as some kind of steroid. What those morons didn't realize was that their steroid was also putting them in thrall to Damsel, which is what really bit them in the ass the other night.

While I was catching up on the night to night affairs of LA; like Naked Fire coming in to replace Ebola Cereal at the Pit, Fenris tagging with Damsel, VV chatting up pretty much everybody – and doing a much better job of it than Danielle DeVries, I might add; I didn't much like it, but I had a pretty good idea that VV was going to be the next Harpy as well as Keeper, unless Therese vetoed that and just appointed Danielle- there was also Jeannette playing both Tabetha and Marko. I'm not sure what all that is about, but whatever it is stinks. Bertram thinks Tabetha might be trying to sweet talk Jeannette into betraying Therese, and that's dangerous. As far as I can tell, Bert almost wants that to happen; I think he figures he can then use whatever influence he has on Jeanette to make sure Cameron steps up. I don't have a problem with that. Cameron is a bit of a bastard, but he's got his marbles in place and knows how to get shit done.

I hadn't seen a lot of Adam over the last two nights; just the odd time when I spotted him shadowing Tabetha; how he managed to get as close as he had without her noticing I have no idea. It might have something to do with his malleable blood; that's what Bert called it when I asked him how the hell that guy managed to learn Auspex so easily, anyway. The way I heard it is that with Auspex, someone can even do astral projection after awhile. Maybe he just got lucky that she didn't pick up on his presence. Tabetha has been off her game lately, but I'm starting to think there's a lot more to Adam Walker than meets the eye. Whoever groomed him for his job must be a damn heavy hitter.

So tonight I was on my way to the Pit when Adam quite literally popped out of nowhere.

"I'm still not convinced that your Tremere Regent is who she says she is." He grumbled. "The more I think about it, the diablerie suspicions I have don't change a thing. There may be no depths Khemintiri would not stoop to."

"It makes sense." I had to admit; getting all cozy with Prince Therese's other half fit what Adam has told me about her typical Modus Operandi. Work in close to the authority, and either undermine it outright or corrupt it beyond repair. "I gotta ask, though, what's her story anyway? I mean what's she doing all this for? To what end?"

"That's never been clarified." Adam said. "Some claim she's trying to build an army of her own to be Queen of all things night. Others say she's pure chaos. There are even some- mostly within the Clan of Set- that insist she is so completely mad that even she doesn't know what her objective is. Those Clansmen say she betrayed their God and Founder Sutekh, and mastered disguise to escape his fury for so long some even speculate that she might not even know who she is anymore."

I guffawed. "But how much stock can we put in what those snakes say?" I challenged. "I mean, what if she's just their version of a boogeyman; old enough to pull off a convincing act, but they all give way more press than she's actually earned? If she's really that old and woken up, why aren't more of the elders freaking out about that Gehenna thing? Why aren't the others waking up? It doesn't add up."

Walker glared at me. It was like, for an instant, his eyes swallowed me whole. "Word is she never went to sleep."

I had to let that sink in for a second. If the legend the way he was laying it down was even half true, then she's been around and _active_ from just about as close to the beginning as you can ever get. Even when you hear rumors bouncing around like how the Founder of Clan Tremere has been stirring and has mutated into something else, and that the First of our Kind is up and around, it puts a chill in your spine and causes an internal reaction like an icicle dripping onto red hot branding iron. I don't put much stock in those rumors; most of that crap has got to be propaganda, but this Khemintiri is the real deal. I looked into it one night and there are tons of accounts. When I said she might be Setite boogeyman material, I meant she's real enough, but then given a big air of notoriety so we go looking for her on one side of the street while forgetting the snakes on the other.

"If she's been up and active the whole time," I said, trying for levity, "that would explain why she's thought to be all batshit."

"Indeed," Adam said deadpan, clearly not seeing the humor at all – or seeing through my attempt. "One must also consider the resources, contacts, and influences she's had opportunity to build up. And in response to your theory about how her Clansmen use her, I have little doubt they do use her as a diversionary device." He paused, and made an effort to speak in a higher tone. "'Look out for Khemintiri, you Cainites, she's our founders daughter and is evil beyond even our description! Watch out! She could be anywhere! She will destroy everything you love and be gone before you even know she was here!' Meanwhile they are setting up their operations while the Camarilla and even the Anarchs and Sabbat are preoccupied. The reality is, we can't afford to ignore their diversion."

"She's really that bad?"

"Yes," he said. "If you are looking for a chance to back out of this hunt, that time is right now." He said this without any particular judgement. I got; this was his way of acknowledging that this kind of thing wasn't what everybody was built for, and he was okay with that.

"I'm in this now." I replied. "This is the kind of thing that turns bones to water, but I gotta finish what I started; one way or the other."

Adam cracked a grim reaper-like smile. That was something I wouldn't have expected. He patted me on the shoulder and nodded approvingly. That pretty much confirmed it to me that I was now in way over my head.

"Good to know." He said finally. "Now come, we have somewhere to be while everyone is at that concert." He started to pull me down a different tunnel in the Warrens; away from the Pit, but definitely a route that would lead us even deeper into Hollywood.

"Wait!" I stopped us from going on. "I get that can use the opportunity try and dig through our suspects' trash while they're all busy watching some lame ass punk rocker jerk off on stage, but the Chantry is that way." I pointed down a different tunnel again. "Not only that, but how do you figure we're gonna get in anyway?"

"We're not going to get into the Chantry." Adam said bluntly. "That's not where we're going. Remember we have two prime suspects, and an off chance on a third. We have someone else watching Tabetha at the Pit, and someone else again keeping tabs on the Seneschal, so by default our second prime suspect is being watched, too."

"We're going to Kaila's place in the Hills." I said for confirmation.

"Yes, we are." Adam said, clearly starting to lose patience. "Now come on. Knox is waiting for us there."

I paused. Walker took two or three steps ahead before realizing I wasn't right beside him. Looking back at me, he gave an expression that asked what now.

"Knox?" I asked. "Are you sure it's a good idea to bring a ghoul into such a dangerous situation?" Don't get me wrong; Knox is damn good at what he does. Bert often says the kid can track like a bloodhound, and he's absolutely right. He's great at shadowing people; his plain sight approach is nothing short of brilliant- he comes off as innocuous and off putting, which makes him real easy to underestimate or even overlook completely. My point is that we are talking about tracking down and collecting evidence on public enemy number one on the Camarilla's Red List; hell, we're talking about going into the house of the Prime suspect of the very Lick that the List was made up for in the first place. Yeah, he's a little on the dizzy side, but I actually like Knox; he's a good kid. It doesn't seem right to put him in harm's way like that. It felt like Adam was looking to throw the poor guy under the bus; like Knox was being used for cannon fodder.

"Okay, I think I get what's going on with you here." Adam said as softly as he could manage. "Look, I need you to think this through a minute; everybody's gonna be at that Whoreador show. If this is our girl, she's using the Roses for a cover. She has to be there or she's either snubbing a Clan mate or making a huge faux pas. Khemintiri wouldn't make a mistake like that on her cover."

"So she won't be home."

"Exactly" Adam concurred. "I had him case the place all day. She doesn't have any ghouls or familiars lingering around, and that makes sense; Khemintiri would travel light in order to make a quick escape if need be. He also saw her leave earlier tonight, ticket to the pit in hand. He also reported he had what looked like a backstage pass on a chain around her neck."

"So what does that mean?" I asked. "Maybe she knows someone in the band?"

Adam considered. "Maybe; or maybe it's some kind of Clan courtesy. Both make sense. Not only that, but we're talking about Knox here; who in the city ever sweats that kid? Even if she did see him, she's not going to even to bother with him."

I took a step forward. On the surface he was right, but then Knox was around on my first nights and he was one of the first folks in town that really took me in and accepted me; lidless eyes and bleach stink and all. He even came up with the nickname Ajax. He thought it sounded all badass like I was going to clean up the Sabbat scum in our city or some shit like that.

"Look," he said as gently as he could; like he was putting on his good cop act. "I get it. He's like a family mascot around here. Don't worry about it. Even if something does go down, we'll be there to watch his back; alright?"

Satisfied, I nodded and we both proceeded on to Kaila's house in the Hills.

So we got to the house in the Hills and sure enough Knox was there waiting for us. He had the place carefully staked out; it was locked up fairly tight, but Knox managed to find a breach. My best guess is that Kaila never thought anybody would even look for a hidden tunnel from the main house to the pool house, but if that's true then she hasn't dealt with the Nosferatu very much. It struck me as a bit unlikely that a Toreador would have a secret tunnel at all; I guessed that weighed in favor of her not being a Rose at all.

"Don't be so quick to think that." Adam cautioned. "The Toreadors are every bit as twisted and vile with secrets as any Nos you'll ever meet. In many ways all a Toreador really is a Nosferatu turned inside out." And then he directed each of us to search different areas of the house. I took the main floor, Knox got the upper level, and Walker went down into the bowels of the place. I had an idea he already knew what he was looking for and the most likely place to find it. I hated that he still wasn't telling me everything, but I guessed it must have been some kind of Camarilla protocol that I hadn't heard about yet.

The main floor, for the most part, looked pretty much as you would expect from a place like this; remembering the way X described the place back when Andrei the Tzimizce was using it, it was hard to believe how clean it was now.

The kitchen was immaculate; barren, but immaculate. Of course the fridge and freezer were pretty much empty save for a head of lettuce, a jar of pickles, a half-sack of imported beer, and a couple of TV dinners. There were a few dishes, a couple of bowls, a matching set of coffee mugs with Egyptian hieroglyphics on them, and an elaborate, jewel encrusted chalice in the cupboards. A coffee maker and a tin of Arabica coffee sat one of the counters. I checked the tin and it was exactly as advertised. The dining room adjacent to the kitchen was fit for a king and a queen; the Oak table was large enough to sit twelve. Looking at it I got visions of a coterie noming down on kine after hapless kine; forgoing the high-backed chairs and just crouching down on top of their prey right there on that table. The front room was nothing short of palatial in decor. If I were to make a bet, I'd wager that either she was planning on staying awhile. That made me think maybe we were on the wrong track. Of course that could be the whole point. I noted a lack of television; but it was feasible a place like this would have a room devoted just to that. So far everything looked basically like what I pictured a Toreador house to look like, right down to the few provisions in the kitchen in case someone decided to bring their meal home for a night. The damn place even had annoyingly pretty works of art everywhere; some of it looked expensive. I wouldn't know a Monet from a Bateman, but this stuff looked like the real deal. So very Toreador...

 _You two find anything?_

The sensation of Walkers' impossibly deep voice in my head made me jump. Was there anything this couldn't do?

"Yeah," I said aloud. "A Toreador's whorehouse, that's what I found. Are you sure this chick is the one you're looking for?"

 _No, I'm not. That's why we're here and not at the Pit bringing her down._

He had a point there. It bothered me that I couldn't hear Knox, so I asked Adam if he said anything.

 _He's finding what should be there; bedrooms, a water closet, a walk in linen closet._

"What about you? Find anything?" I asked.

 _Not yet..._

Next on my search was a library. I'll be the first to admit that at first the selection seemed a little on the nose, which struck me as a tad hinky. I saw a large collection of Art History books, a few volumes on a number of different musical eras, an assortment of collected works on a bunch of poets; Byron, Shelley, Keats, Yeats, that sort of thing. There was also an old print of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, Milton's Paradise Lost – that one looked particularly well read – and there was an illustrated version of Coleridge's Tale of the Ancient Mariner. Like I said; really on the nose stuff for a Toreador. Then there was a shelf of religious and philosophical studies; Plato, Socrates, Nietzsche, and some guy named Sam Harris were represented, along with CS Lewis, and a bunch of names I didn't recognize. Next I saw a segment of tomes I couldn't identify as they were in a script I didn't know; I would have guessed it was some kind of Middle Eastern language, but couldn't tell you for sure. On the chance Adam might know what it was (he seemed to know everything else somehow), I grabbed one at random for him to look at. I thought about snagging Chaucer as well; it might have been worth something, but as I was, I took note of a book left open on a table set in front of a chair.

Forsaking Chaucer, I crept to the table to peek at what was currently being read. I got to the table and saw I was mistaken; it wasn't what was being currently read. It was what was being currently written. Also on the table was one of those calligraphy pens. Glancing at the pages, I saw they were filled end to end with ornately drawn symbols that I definitely couldn't make sense of. All the same, I thought this might be some kind of journal or diary or something; very careless to leave something like that lying around. That was her mistake, as far as I was concerned. I reached out to grab that along with the other one I picked up, and suddenly thought better of it. She would notice the journal she was currently working on missing straight away. Instead, I made a quick search around the room to see if there was any place that another of these might be kept.

"Hey guys, I think I might have something here." Knox and I both called out together.

After a pause, I heard- or felt- Adam asking me what I had.

"I got what looks like a diary written in some kind of made up code in the library. It's done all pretty in what looks like a customized calligraphy."

 _Knox has a trap door in the ceiling of a walk in closet full of shoes._ Walker declared. _Stay put and I'll come to you. I got something down here, too._

I heard him get to me in the library. "So show me this diary you think you found." He ordered. As little as I liked to be ordered to do anything, I complied and indicated the table. He took one look at the tome and snatched it up without a thought.

"Wait," I said. "Don't you think she'll know someone is here if we take that?"

He shook his head. "It won't matter." He countered. "We got her, and I think I know what she's doing." He held up the diary. "This will serve to confirm that, and maybe give up locations of some of her other hideouts and accomplices." Without another word, he left the library and started towards the stairs going up.

"What did you find down there?" I asked, following him.

"Do you know how it looked like the homeless population was vanishing from the streets?" He asked back, not breaking his stride.

"Yeah, I remember." I confirmed. "Those Brightstone jerks were pulling them off to drip feed Damsel so they could juice off her."

"Not all of them." He replied.

It took me a moment to grasp where he was going with that. "You mean she's making zombies?"

"More like mummies," he corrected as we reached the landing. "Trust me on this one, that's much worse."

Finding Knox up here was easy enough; though I seriously wish we didn't. Not in the state he was in. To say he got his ass kicked would have been understating the case; hell, to say he was beaten nearly to death would be putting it lightly. How that happened without either of us knowing it was a mystery on its own. _I knew bringing him in on this was a bad call!_

I cursed as I sprinted towards him before Adam could object. Falling back on my old skills as an EMT I gave him a look over; he was busted up as badly as anything I ever saw, and he was bleeding out. It reminded me of my own last night among the living ten years ago.

Believe it or not, me and Marko were partners; the both of us were emergency medics running in the same ambulance. There was this one night a couple of years ago it occurred to me that since I wasn't half and handsome as I am now back then, he might not recognize me. That's one perk with being a Nosferatu; even in your home town you never have to worry about running into and getting made by any of your old friends or acquaintances. Hell, my own mother wouldn't know me anymore even if I walked right up to her and handed her a Mother's day card. Anyway, I asked him about his past before and he said it didn't matter anymore and he gave it no thought at all. He said the person he was is dead, and now who is now is who he is. In his own way, he has a point, I guess. I let it go at that. So the way it went is he drove the ambulance that night. We got a call that took us out to Mulholland Drive; some kind of domestic dispute that resulted in a house fire. When we got there, fire and rescue had two people that needed us; two females, one looked like she was suffering from smoke inhalation and the other looked like she was all burned up. We did our thing, and from what we could see they both should have been DOA. Were we ever in for a surprise. We never even got them to the hospital. Burn victim got me, and smoke inhalation got Marko. I remember his girl was wearing a cowgirl stripper outfit and mine was all done up in a leather body suit less the cowl. Looking back I should have noticed the outfit wasn't touched by flames. Sometimes even I get be a bonehead. Next Marko and I know, we're serving up liquid lunches straight from our arteries.

After that, we wake up in a cheesy room at the Lucky Star Hotel in Hollywood, jammed side by side on just about the filthiest bed on the block. The two women we pulled off Mulholland sitting on a couch across the room. Even before they could get a word out to explain what happened, the door crashes open and LaCroix's gorilla of a Sheriff and his thug deputies rush in staking all of us. We wake up on a stage with the other five of the Super Seven and all our respective sires, and that dandy of a Prince is giving his speech about Kindred law. We learned later that that was why Rodriguez was so adamantly against our execution; for Marko and I, it was because we were on Anarch turf and should be have been dealt with by Isaac. The way Isaac told it even later than that was the only reason he didn't object was because he would have been rightfully accused of trying to build up an army to force the Camarilla out of the city. To this night I have my doubts about that. I get the idea that Isaac wasn't really an Anarch at all; he just hated LaCroix so aligned himself with them.

But that's enough about me. Knox was well on his way to punching his ticket; no time to call emergency, and I had nothing else to keep him alive with. I saw no other way. I bared my fangs – not that that changed the look of my mouth much- and I swear I saw him smile as I plunged in to finish draining him. As I took the last bit, I could have sworn I heard him whisper, ever so faintly, that this was awesome. I knew better, but I had to finish what I started. I fed him some of my vitae, and thus completed his embrace.

"You stupid son of a bitch!" Walker growled.

"What was supposed to do?" I shot back. "Let him die?"

"Yes" Adam replied coldly. "He would have then been honored for dying in the line of duty, and we could have made sure his remains were reduced to ash when we torched this place. Instead, you cursed him with our damnation."

"Hold on," I said. "Torch this place? Are you serious? What about the people you found downstairs?"

"They are already dead!" Adam insisted, clearly getting agitated. "Cremation will be doing them a favor compared to what she has in mind for them." He hesitated, scrutinizing Knox and me. It would be about an hour or so before Knox woke up; assuming the embrace took hold. "We don't have much time," he said finally, shaking his head in frustration. "You take him and your books to the Warrens. Maybe Mitnick can decode the journal, and there's a chance Bertram might know what that other tome you have with you is. Whatever the case may be, we have to get him out of sight before the change starts manifesting itself in full. Once he's out of sight, he'll probably be unrecognizable and the Clan can up with an identity and a narrative for him to bring to the Prince. I'll take a look in the hidden attic and then clean up this end of the mess."

I wanted to argue with him. I wanted to blame him for what happened to Knox; that he should have been kept out of this in the first place. But I knew it would do no good; even if I was sure I was right. It didn't matter whose fault it was; it was done, and now Knox was my responsibility. Without a word I collected the books, hoisted Knox over my shoulder, and left the Mansion to find the quickest route back into the Warrens. I had a bad feeling that both Imalia and Bertram were gonna pissed. To tell the truth, I wasn't sure which one I was more afraid of.


	11. Chapter 11

Well I was right; Bertram is pissed. Imalia is pissed. Bertram is pissed because I, for all intents and purposes, poached his ghoul. He agrees it would have been better to let him die; then he could have called all of the city Nos to converge and focus on taking Khemintiri down once and for all. For all of his annoying mannerisms, Knox was well liked among the Clan as far as ghouls go, so most of the Clan would have been on board. Imalia is pissed because by embracing Knox without leave of the Prince, I made a mess for her to have to clean and cover up in her capacity as Primogen. To make matters worse, Therese has no love for our Clan and would probably use any excuse she can to make unlife a bitch for us anyway. Lucky for us, Knox no longer looks anything like his old self anymore since I gave him the vitae last night. The issue wasn't going to be explaining his embrace; it was going to be explaining his disappearance. As for the embrace, it never happened, we can say. We keep him down in the Warrens for about a year or so to develop a whole new identity as Kindred, and then maybe he can pop up on the surface. I know it's dicey, but like I said, nobody ever looks too closely at us unless they have reason to. Regardless, I'm basically on the shitlist for everyone _except_ Knox; and he doesn't yet fully understand what I did to him.

Last night, Walker made it back into the Warren just as the sun was rising; I mean, he was actually smoking from the first rays of that shiny bastard kissing his ass. Other than that, he looked like shit; almost as bad as Knox.

Tonight, he tells it like this:

Torching the place was the easy part of his night. He said that before he was a Fed he worked on the arson unit in a medium sized city; he wouldn't say where exactly. Anyway, during his run three he learned a few tricks and so knew how to do a place without getting detected. He said he did it in a way that the cops would almost certainly miss that it was arson at all. He wouldn't say how. I wouldn't be surprised if he still had some Fed stroke or some shit like that.

It was after he had the place going and got clear of the flames that the shit hit the fan.

Just before he reached the sewer manhole that would get him back to the warrens he got totally blindsided; it happened so quick he didn't have a chance. One second he was reaching down to open the cover, and the next second he was flying across the field. Even by the time he landed – badly, he added – his attacker was right on top of him; kicking him in the ribs to turn him on his back hard enough that at least three bones snapped. He was looking up at her and she was morphed in some kind of snake woman form; a hooded head like a cobra, a body still distinctly female but all covered in a tough scaly hide, and a tail that had a rattle. She had overlarge fangs dripping with a golden substance and her eyes were even greener than normal; they had a serpentine quality to them, and when she swayed her head they were mesmerizing. Adam said he had to fight the urge to simply be lulled numb by her eyes, the somehow soothing sound of her barely audible hissing, and the gentle rattling of her tail.

And I thought we Nos had the freakshow appearance market cornered.

She wrapped her tail around his ankle and lifted him off the ground upside down. She examined him for a second.

"You're young," she said before slamming him onto the ground and lifting him up again with her tail. "So young you're still warm." She dropped him roughly and before he could even begin to move she pinned him with her foot on his throat; though in his telling he was certain it had more to do with either her eyes or some kind of Presence trick that only someone her age and with her potency of the Blood would know or be able to do. "How is it that one as young as you is the first one to come this close to catching up with me? How is it that one so warm is the only one I remember ever being able to come so close to blindsiding me? I must be getting careless."

That was when Adam thought he saw his one and only shot to turn this mess around on her. Khemintiri seemed to be lost in moment of self recrimination, so he grabbed her ankle – this was when it occurred to him she was nude under her scales – and yanked as hard as he could. He managed to jar her ankle off of him enough to get to his feet and throw a punch; which she caught in the palm of her hand with contemptuous ease. Then Khemintiri began to squeeze with a grip like a boa constrictor; Adam said he could actually feel the bones in his hand not just break, but more soften like putty. She then twisted his fist with a sharp flick of her wrist so that his hand was literally turned completely around; if she were to let go and allow him to open his hand, the palm would be facing the anatomical opposite direction of the rest of his arm.

"And you're much stronger in the Blood than one your age ought to be in this day and age." She said. "You're a most interesting case, young Walker." She lashed out at him with her tongue, lacerating his face and then kicked him in the jewels hard enough to hoist him off his feet. As he landed, she coiled that tail around his torso, splintering even more of his ribs; he thought for a moment one of them might pierce his heart.

Swaying her head, she gazed into his eyes and rattled, mesmerizing him again. "You have already cost me nearly a century of work." She said. "It will take much longer than you know to replace those soldiers and my pawns amongst Sutekh's sheep will likely never be replaced." She squeezed harder still. "For that alone, and the fact you've already proven far more resourceful than most in your pathetic Ivory Tower, I should simply toss you in the blaze you yourself created and be done with you." She pulled him closer, and licked him. "But I won't. You've taught me something tonight, little one. You've taught me that even I need to be wary of my own hubris. Not only that, but up until now I have started to grow bored; you actually amuse me in funny way. This game might be fun. So I will let you continue to exist, for now." And then she bit him; but instead of taking his blood, she injected him with something that felt like sulphuric acid coursing through his veins. As he howled in pain unlike any he had experienced before, she dropped him like a sack of wheat. Leaning in close to his ear, she whispered: "That is, if you can find your way out of the Sun."

Then she was gone.

Once she was gone, Walker told us, it took him until it was just over an hour before dawn to heal enough to move, let alone make an effort to get to the Warren entrance. That was when his real trouble began, the way he told it. It occurred to him almost immediately that he was tossed a lot farther than he originally thought. Next it seemed as if he got the direction he was tossed wrong, too. In short order after that it was evident that his every effort to get his bearings and locate the entrance kept putting him right back where he started.

"That sounds like a mental maze." Bertram explained. All of us were a lot younger than him, so we had no idea what he was talking about. In fact, I don't think any of us in the room other than Bert were embraced any earlier than the late twentieth century. "It's a very old obfuscate ability that confounds the target into disorientation so as they cannot find their way beyond a given amount of space. Most Kindred have forgotten about that one."

Adam nodded pensively. "Then it was something she did to me." He said. "I thought it had something to do with whatever she injected me with. If it really was the maze thing you described, then she damn near killed me even without the beating I took. By the time I finally found the entrance the sky was starting to brighten; I could feel my skin actually start to sizzle as I climbed in."

"That explains the burnt bacon smell." Imalia quipped. "Well, if there's any good in this fucking mess, it's that a bunch of sand snakes are likely reduced to ash as we speak. If we're lucky, maybe even a couple of Hastings Ventrue."

Bertram growled. "There's a problem with that, sweetcakes. Kindred spontaneously combusting who knows where is a big breech of the Masquerade; maybe on a global scale." He said. "While you're right that a bunch of Snakes getting roasted is in itself not a bad thing, the Hastings line is still in very good standing with the Camarilla. That presents a problem of its own."

"Damn it!" Walker exclaimed. "How could I have been so stupid?"

"Torching a place full of Kindred hearts wasn't your best move, fledgling." Bertram agreed. "But you say you covered your tracks, so nobody needs to know your role in it. It will be waved off as another of Khemintiri's crimes. It's not like she would deny it."

For a moment, Walker looked confused; upon realizing that Bert misunderstood him, he said; "No, it's not that. I mean I now see why she's gone about playing a key role in setting up the Hastings Dynasty."

With a raised eyebrow- such as Bertram has, anyway – the elder Nosferatu urged Walker to go on.

"By making sure the Hastings line is both in power and in her pocket, she's got herself a kind of playground." He went on. "All up and down the Coast she's got places to hide and be protected even by those who should be hunting her. The Hastings' don't even need to know they're helping her create a massive haven of sorts."

"There's more to it than that." Mitnick said as he rushed into the room and hastily set a laptop up on the table.

"What do you mean?" Bert asked.

Once finished setting up the laptop, Mitnick spoke, mostly to Imalia. "Remember when you asked me to bug Vesuvius because Walker listed Cammie's squeeze as a suspect? Well, I got something; it's not her directly, but you guys have to hear this." He produced a thumbdrive and stuck into one of the USB ports. "As it turns out, VV left her Club to X if anything happened to her. What I got here is a bit of a conversation between Vega and that rock star buddy of his."

He uploaded the file and played it back for us:

Xavier Vega:  
With VV gone and both Tyler and Damsel down, how can you say we're not finished? VV was supposed to be the one who would put us forward as a Libertarian State.

There's a sound like a bottle was being opened followed by the sound of something being poured into a pair of glasses.

Russell Norton:  
Listen, I know it looks bad now, but I give you my word this is going to work out.

XV:  
You say that, but I don't see how!

RN:  
I'm telling you right now! Just drink up, put yourself together and listen for a second, alright?

There's a sound of someone taking a big gulp of someone drinking something.

RN:  
You're right that losing VV is a setback, but it's by no means the end. It just means we're going to have to take a couple of extra steps and set up a different Prince. We should still have no problem convincing the Court to vote non- confidence in Therese. All we need is to make sure whoever replaces her will be someone we can work with to set up our ground to stand on to begin with. Actually, it ain't so different from the Valley up north.

XV:  
Great; so who's gonna replace Therese?

RN:  
Stay with me on this. The guy we want to sit in Praxis for this to work is Cameron Hastings. Now before you freak out, you need to hear me out. You're a smart guy, so think this through, alright? All up and down the Coast the Hastings are in power, right? On the same token, every single Hastings Prince has an arrangement with the Anarch population so they have what boils down to a domain of their own.

XV:  
Wait a second. Are you saying the vaunted Hastings Dynasty is basically a puppet regime for the Anarchs?

RN:  
I'm not saying anything. Instead, I'm asking you something: What else does every Domain with a Hastings in Praxis have in common?

XV:  
The answer is Kaila. She gets in good with a Hastings, gets him in power, and then works him allowing what they think of as satellite baronies. Next thing you know, the Anarchs have themselves ground to stand on.

"THAT BITCH!" Imalia shrieked.

Mitnick shut off the recording.

"We don't have to like her," Bertram said. "But we gotta admit that when she does something, she does it right."

Walker scowled. It was quite apparent that he saw all too clearly how bad it was for everyone that his mark was playing both sides.

"The real question we have to ask now is just how much does this Norton guy know? Is he in on her play, or is he a pawn just like the Hastings line?"

"That's a good question." Bertram agreed. "Either way, it looks like Khemintiri is well on her way to being the one who really runs the coast."

"I'm in pretty good with Xavier," I offered. "I'll look into the Toreador."

"No you won't!" Imalia countered. "You fucked up, so now you're on babysitting duty. Hollywood is my walk, I'll check it out."

Like I said, everybody is pretty pissed off with me.


End file.
